LIver Dai mai Movement sequence & Explanations

Liver Dai MAi full sequence

This is the full practice - for you to learn the movement sequences. You will find that this is not the Yin version of the work you learned in Temple; you can download the PDF below which will guide you through all of these movements in illustrations.

Line 1: activating the Liver & Goddess Kali

This beginning part of the practice activates the liver. Here we are calling on a great pillar before us, and starting to channel the liver energy in the same way which we will do when standing. We want to draw in this light, familiarise ourselves with the sensation of our liver, and being working with the breath. Here we have the opportunity to check in with the state of our liver, with the energy here, to visualise the meditation in a still place, and to check on the connection between our liver and our heart. After this, we draw on the Kali energy as we move into Lion’s Pose - sticking out our tongue, rolling our eyes back in our head, and breathing out. In this pose we allow any heat and activation from the liver which is rising up to come out. Use your eyes to express this fierce energy, and allow heat from the liver and heart to leave via the tongue - not forgetting the Heart has a direct connection to fire energy, to the tongue, and the eyes. Here we are beginning to activate the the channels of the liver upwards; and then coming into that Goddess Squat, we are activating the energy of the liver channel downwards; through the wood point on the wood channel, liver 1 which is on the big toe. As we make our prayer for this practice we rise up, hanging forward allowing our upper and lower body to experience a strength and lengthening as we get ready to intensify our practice and clearing during the standing sequence.

Line 2: liver chi tree, dragon balls, torus & dai mai

During this part of the practice we tap into the true Taoist roots of Golden Lotus. We are beginning, in this practice, to call on animals which is a part of the traditional Chi Gung sequences of all of the Chinese Lineages and the original Bagua/Pakua system. In this video we are going through the very traditional tree pose meditation for the liver, which allows us to release energy our through the vagina and ground through the big toe, and this meditation also benefits the chest as we open out and inhale, and the ovaries. Here we are cultivating our wood element, and growing our roots in an expansive way. After this, we focus on a Liver and Dai Mai practice, we are loosening the fascia and expanding our energy for the liver, but also activating the waist and the dai mai through our “string of pearls” - using the dragon balls to circle the waist and open all of the joints. Once we are finished with the dragon balls, we move to a centering meditation for the dai mai and torus field. Here we are drawing on the protective elements of the Dai Mai; the expansion of our wei chi and our field of lateral energy. Finally, we come to the dai mai meditation which utilises the same points up the spine as we have address in our kidney du mai meditation, but also brings the arms over the head; this traditional stretch for the waist is a well known feminine chi gung movement which was practiced by the lineage of the White Tigress; it is called the Willow Waist exercises, and in other lineages is known as triple bracelets encircling the moon; both very feminine names. You can feel the lateral stretch up the side of your body and gallbladder channel, as we move with this beautiful pearl. The pearls, or chi balls, are a very important concept in all of chi-gung, and help us to develop our sensitivity and connection with Laogong - Pericadium 8 - the minor Heart chakra on the centre of the palm, where we can sense chi and learn to project and channel healing energy, which is a large part of what Chi gung means. Below are some resources for these practices, as well as some traditional “dragon ball’ demonstrations of chi-gung such as Master Li. "The dragon's pearl can also be thought of as a symbol for universal Qi the progenitor of all energy and creation… In connection with the dragon the pearl has been called the image of thunder, of the moon, of the sun, of the egg emblem of the dual influences of nature, and the 'pearl of potentiality'. The pearl is most often depicted as a spiral or a globe. In some paintings it is sometimes red, sometimes gold, sometimes the bluish white of a true pearl. The pearl is often accompanied by little jagged flashes that seem to spark out from it, like flames; and it almost always has an appendage in the form of a small undulating sprout, not unlike the first young shoot from a bean. In Daoist concepts the moon, pearls, dragons and serpents are inextricably linked. Like the snake that is reborn when it sheds its skin, the moon is reborn each month, and both are symbols of immortality. Like the dragon, the moon is always associated with water; its undeniable power over the tides is believed to extend to all liquids on earth. The dragons that lived in the sea were said to be inordinately fond of pearls and collected them and watched over them in great submarine palaces." - Dragons of China, Eight Dragons Baguazhang

line 3: lesser kan & li, Dai Mai Seeding & Holding

In this part of the practice we are taking the pearl from the dai mai dance down to the Earth. It’s important that you seed the pearl with the light of the heavens and the pearlescent core of Mother Earth, and then we bring the pearl back up into the womb space, slowly bringing her inside the 5 layers of the vaginal canal, and into the hips and pelvis keeping a profound awareness on the front of the pelvis and the sense of conception, gestation and incubation. From here we now move on to do a series of hip opening, yet protecting motions.

Line 4: The swan meets the deer

This part of the practice draws on the length and grace of the deer and swan, and works with protecting our newly seeded pearl. These movements are protective and gestating - as you allow this seed nourishment to take root. Here we being the deep transition into the lessons of feminine Queen energy, and grace. The swan is a strong, and graceful Queen gliding on the lake; in England all of the swans belong to the Queen herself - and she has represented the etherial, the mysterious, the feminine, the beautiful, and a balance of strength, beauty, and tragedy in folk songs, culture, and ballet for centuries. She is calm in the water, and uses her strength with discernment and wisdom. The swan and the deer are both animals which represent the gentle, the spiritual and the mysterious. They are omens, and both have the unique features of their graceful long necks, their deep and wise eyes and their powerful, smooth breasts. They represent the feminine in balance. In Taoism the deer is an important symbol of fertility - and breast massage practices which cultivate hormonal balance and even stop our menstrual cycle altogether, are based on the name of the deer.

line 5: liver and gallbladder stretching

This is a beautiful part of the practice where we just go into some “makka ho” stretches, opening the body and the gall bladder and liver lines to get a good opening in the legs, hips, and thighs. This part also releases any tension which has built up along the dai mai lines or the gall-bladder lines. I want to just mention that taking the dragon-fly movement really slow with some bolsters is a really beautiful way to initiate this very soft ending to the class, or else you can do it as I do in this class which is just a stretch and then coming into some lying down lateral stretches, getting some cracks out of the lower back which show that movement, energy, space and loosening has happened in the body.

line 6: The FINAL MEDITATION on LIVER, HEART & EYES

This beautiful ending to the practice is an ode to the energy of the liver practice; it feels right to allow the blood to rest into the liver and incorporate our feminine restoration position, but ultimately the liver is a more lively and dynamic practice which should have us ending with a conscious, upright position, giving thanks to our surroundings, and coming back to an integration of our inner and outer worlds ready to face one another. What I love about the final parts of this practice is coming back to really feel the energy between the heart and the liver - remember the jueyin connection from the 6 divisions we are experiencing here, and remembering that the covering of the heart comes from the liver and is very different in origin than the inner lining of the heart.

20 MINUTE liver DAi MAI PRACTITIONER SEQUENCE

This is a short 20 minute practice for you to learn the movement sequences uninterrupted. This does not have meditations, or any guided sequences - it is just for you to learn the practice as one uninterrupted movement flow.

Diary Of Your Practice

Name *

Email *

Subject *

Please fill in the field with the number practice you are doing, if you know it.

Message *

Please just write an overview of the reflections in your practice; emotional, physical, energetic, otherwise.